It is often claimed that medieval people did not love their children. This is completely false. worksinprogress.co/issue/did… Some facts about childhood in medieval England: - Parents made vast sacrifices for their children and expected little in return. Supporting a child took about 15 percent of average income, and most children left home at just the age that they might have become net economic assets; - Medieval families were quite small: the average child had one living sibling, like the average child in England today; - The Church thought that foetuses were ensouled at quickening, not conception, so early-term abortion was not treated as homicide. This remained the case until the nineteenth century; - The English government repeatedly banned football to focus boys on archery practice (it was ignored); - There is extensive evidence that medieval parents adored their children and were devastated when they died, which they often did. High infant mortality was just as horrible for medieval people as it would be for us. My review of Nicholas Orme's wonderful book, Medieval Children.